First Communion Country Trends: Germany--1920s Class Hosiery


Figure 1.--These German boys are having their protrait taken after their First Communion celebration. We are unsure if it is a church or school group. The image is undated, but we believe that it was probably taken in the mid-1920s. Most boys wore kneesocks, but one boy wore long stockings.

Most of the boys in this German 1920s class First Communion portrait wear kneesocks, but even here there is some variation. One boy wears three-quarter socks--the socks appear to be half hose. Most of the boys wear socks and stockings that are solid colors. I think this was in part the solemnity of the occassion, muted solid colors were considered most appropriate. The boy wearing half-hose is the exception here, but one boy has kneesocks with patterened tops and another boy has socks with faint striping. Some of the boys are wearing white kneesocks. One boy wears light-colored long stockings. One boy in the front wears half socks that he has pulled up like kneesocks, but they do not go all the way. They have a kind of striped pattern on the top part of the socks, but the bottoms are plain. He also wears modern looking low-cut shoes. The boy wearing long stockings appears to be wearing long underwear to at least his knees and rather curiously appears to be wearing a knee sock under the stockings on his right leg. Note that he wears lighr-colored stockings. Black stockings would have been considered more appropraiate in the 1910s. Long stockings were often worn for warmth, but were also considered by some more appropriate for formal occassions than socks.










Christopher Wagner







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Created: June 13, 2002
Last edited: June 13, 2002